Future radiation sources and identification of irradiated foods

Two major questions regarding irradiation that are raised today are: (1) Which sources should be used for irradiating food? and (2) How can irradiated foods be identified? This article considers both questions. After briefly mentioning a few of the historical stepping stones in the development of radiation sources, present and future radiation sources are discussed. Next the changes in foods caused by irradiation are considered. These changes are extremely small-so minor in fact that it is difficult to detect if the food has been irradiated. Still, these are several detection methods available, and this article describes them